Someone To Lean On
by Shutters
Summary: Takes place post season two, a Tony and Michelle story, how their relationship starts and will it be strong enough to last? COMPLETE
1. A New CTU

_This is my first story - so any reviews will be much appreciated, thanks._

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Chapter One – A New CTU

The car park was filled with people; all waiting to hear what Brad Hammond had to say to the group. The new CTU was finally finished and things would soon start to get back to normal, well as normal as it was possible for the CTU to be.

It was nearly three months since the bomb and the day so many of their friends and work colleges had lost their lives. Today those left would start to put all that behind them, move on from all the horrors they had faced and continue to save LA from terrorist threats the way George Mason and others would have wanted them to.

Tony Almeida stood a little away from the group, he had already seen inside the newly rebuilt CTU, had seen the new equipment and offices, but it still made him nervous to finally work inside that building once again. For him this really marked the beginning of his role as director of CTU.

The last few months had been all over the place for him, not just physically, which was certainly true. Every one left at CTU had been working out of mobile trailers or spare in offices over at division. But he had also been up and down emotionally as well. Tony stole a glance over at Michelle Dessler, what was she thinking?

Michelle stood quietly as one of six workers standing in a ring talking. The mood was cheerful and chatty. She smiled and nodded politely when looked at but for the most part stayed out of their conversations. Her eyes flicked towards the new CTU, working there again meant facing all the clear memories she still had from that day only a few months before.

Michelle shifted her gaze over to Tony, who stood alone from the rest. His eyes were focused on the floor at his feet, surly he should be happy to, at last, have a permanent office and take over CTU for good, but he looked how she felt: alone, unsure and maybe even a little afraid.

She excused herself from the group and made her way casually towards Tony, he saw her coming and smiled warmly, and, as always, his smile made her stomach melt.

Tony's eyes locked on Michelle's, he had missed her so much, when Tony and Jack had split CTU she had been temporally been posted with Jack, it was just until CTU was reopened but those few weeks seemed to last forever. Tony hadn't consciously realised how much he looked forward to seeing her every day, until he didn't get to.

Even before the CTU split Tony had seen very little of Michelle, she had chosen to take her due holiday time and spend it with her brother Danny.

Tony tried not to be selfish but he didn't want to share her with anyone, his deep feelings had only deepened still further after the kiss they shared on the day of the bomb. They had been so close then, so to go three months with next to no contact had been unbearable for him.

Tony's mind flicked back to the question he had been constantly asking himself every day since their kiss: what if she doesn't feel the same? But he quickly pushed those thought aside and filled his head with images of a future that he could only dream about.

"Hey" Michelle said lightly as she stopped by his side to talk, "you ok?"

"I'm alright, how are you?"

"I'm ok"

"I haven't really seen you since the bomb, you disappeared on me," the hurt in his voice was clear even though he tried to hide it.

"I needed to spend time with my family, everything got so emotional for me that day, I'm sorry," she did sound genuinely sorry, then suddenly Michelle smiled and added, "did you miss me?"

"Yeah, I did." Her smile widened.

"I missed you too."

"Hey Tony, Michelle." It was Jack

"Look, Tony I'll talk to you later" she started to leave.

"You don't have to go Michelle," Tony called after her, she turned and smiled,

"I know but I need to something from my car anyway, I'll give and Jack some time. Maybe we could get lunch or something and, you know, catch up?"

"I'd like that" Michelle smiled and waved before turning away from them.

"Sorry, Tony, did I interrupt something?"

"No, not really," he stared longingly after Michelle and Jack laughed.

"Have you asked her yet?"

"Asked her…? Oh, that, no, is it that obvious?" he said without removing his eyes from her retreating back.

Jack smiled kindly, "it is from where I'm standing."

Hammond and Chapelle talked for an age about "new chances" and "fresh starts" until the whole group were fidgeting and allowing their minds to think of other things.

Tony and Jack stood behind them, surveying the sea of new and old faces. All the positions had been filled and they were ready to put CTU back on track… and as soon as every one was settled in, Tony decided, he would be taking Michelle out for dinner and a movie, just like he had promised.

The days pasted in a blur of confusion and frustration. Tony and Jack had their work cut out for them; most of the new agents seemed to not be capable of thinking for themselves, they needed to be told everything and on more than one occasion their lack of common sense became too much to bare.

Tony stared absently down at Michelle through the window of his office. Less than a sentence had been pasted between the pair over the last few days, which only added to Tony's internal pain.

Michelle was typing away and had a phone pinned between her shoulder and her ear. Tony let out a long breath that he hadn't realised he was keeping in; he would have to ask her soon or else go mad.

There were various brown folders cluttering his desk but Tony allowed himself to continue watching her, just for a few more minutes, he reasoned.

It was fast become his favourite activity – admiring Michelle from a distance. Just watching her brush loose curls out of her eyes or bite her lip when thinking hard made his heart beat faster.

Tony could hardly string a sentence together when they spoke, he barely remembered to breath when around her, but she seemed so calm – like none of those feeling affected her. How could she possibly feel the same way about him as he did about her? Michelle didn't even seem to register his presence most of the time, as far as she was concerned Tony was invisible.

Michelle checked her watch and groaned miserably, only 5 minutes had past since the last time she had checked, why did the days insist on dripping by so slowly?

It wouldn't be so bad if Tony would just talk to her, but these days he seemed to go out of his way to ignore her. If he regretted the kiss the least he could do is talk to her, explain how he was feeling - even if he didn't want them to get together.

They had been such close friends before, Michelle wondered if she had ruined all that by kissing him.

But then maybe she was being unfair, she reasoned – Tony had been very busy since CTU had reopen, he might just be waiting for the right time to ask…

The phone rang, its annoying ring tone blaring out for all to hear, and bringing Michelle back down from her daydream.

"Dessler."

"Michelle, can I see you up here a minute?" Tony's voice seemed either edgy or tired, she couldn't tell which.

"Yeah sure" Michelle answered as her mind began to buzz with possibilities.

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So... what do you think?


	2. Difficult Questions

Chapter 2 – Difficult Questions

Climbing the stairs to Tony's office was taking far too long for Michelle's liking; she took them two at a time as her heart raised with excitement. Calm down! This was probably just a work discussion, she reminded herself. No - it could just be work or he'd have said it over the phone…

She knocked softly before peering round the glass door at Tony, he beckoned her in and Michelle's breath caught in her throat. How could he always look so amazing? Totally in control, the rock in every situation, if only he would be her personal rock.

Tony tried desperately to look busy, so this would seem like a normal, work related conversation, but he couldn't seem to draw his eyes away from hers. She made him nervous just being in the same room as him, how could he ever pluck up the courage to ask her out?

"You wanted to see me?" she said and smiled – that same smile that had captured his heart so many months before.

"Yeah, I… uh…" Michelle raised her eyebrows slightly, Tony wasn't normally this unsure around her – maybe this was really it.

"I wanted…" Just say it, Tony thought to himself angrily; "I… need you to update division. Chapelle wants a progress report on the attempt on Palmers life."

"Oh, ok. There hasn't been any major progress since yesterdays report though Tony, are you sure?"

"Yeah, just tell him that, thanks Michelle."

She felt punched in the stomach, maybe she was being unreasonable but it felt like he was giving her mixed messages – they'd been getting so close, then there was the kiss and now nothing, a purely work relationship - when Michelle wanted so much more from him.

She turned to go and Tony kicked himself – if he never asked her out he would never know how she felt about him, and if he waited too long she might even find someone else. Fear spiked his system, Michelle with someone else would be too difficult to bear, and it wasn't as if she didn't like him – they had kissed for crying out loud!

"Wait Michelle!" she spun round to face him in the doorway, "Are you… I mean, would you…" he grinned lamely at her, "I just wanted to say: if you're free, and only if you want to, that I'd like to take you out for that dinner and a movie I promised."

Tony stood, as though frozen waiting for her answer, knowing it would either make his day or break his heart…

Michelle felt the excitement return, as his words sank in slowly, like a distant daydream; did Tony just ask her out? Her answer was obvious but verbalising it without sounding overly keen would be more than difficult.

"Sounds good," she said, the enthusiasm clear in her voice, as she stepped back into the office and allowed the door to close behind her. "When?"

"I was thinking tonight?" Tony said stepping towards her, "Unless that's too soon?" he added quickly.

"Yesterday wouldn't be soon enough," Michelle admitted quietly, and they both smiled awkwardly at each other.

They were saved seconds later from the silence that had fallen in the office by the ring tone they all love so much. Tony lent over his desk, removed the phone from its cradle and put it to his ear.

"Almeida."

"Tony its Jack, you need to come down here right now, we have a situation unfolding, is Michelle with you?"

"Yeah she's here Jack, what going on?"

"We need you and Michelle down here on the floor as soon as Tony – I'll explain everything then."

"We'll both be right down."


	3. Active Protocol

Chapter Three – Active Protocol

Tony and Michelle walked down the stairs together, enjoying there last few peaceful moments. As they were reaching the bottom few steps Tony touched Michelle's hand lightly with his own,

"Tonight can't come soon enough," he murmured.

She sent him a private smile before the pair of them split, Michelle heading for IT where her help would be most appreciated and Tony going straight to Jack's side.

"What's going on?"

"I'm about to bring the whole team up to speed, but this is serious Tony, we're in for another very long day."

Tony sighed inwardly, were they really ready to deal with this? Half of the team had barely been working at CTU for a fortnight. Could they cope with everything this job put you through? But his mind didn't dwell on their new workers for long, most of his sympathy went out to Michelle, would she get though another day like before so soon?

Michelle's mind reeled, this had to be something big, Jack wouldn't be acting like this if it was just routine stuff… Images of the bomb flooded her mind: bodies buried under rubble, chaos in every direction, and Tony - missing for those few seconds until she saw him once more, long enough to stop her heart from beating and her lugs from breathing. She still wasn't sleeping well; she wasn't ready to go through all that again. And worse still what if this time she _really_ lost Tony? It didn't bare thinking about.

"Can I have your attention, we have an imminent terrorist attack on our hands, and we need everyone to be working on preventing it, no distractions. This is an active protocol." The whole room became still at Jack's words. "Division have confirmed that the terrorist cell 'moonlit ghosts', who we thought had been destroyed, has become active once more. The cell was last operational in 1998, when the leader was Corin Calorman - he was killed by LAPD officers while resisting arrest. We believe their new leader is Ash Calorman, his cousin." Photos of the two men appeared on the screen behind Jack as he spoke, "from Intel already gathered, Division wants us to assume that they plan to use suicide bombers in strategic places at some point in the next 24 hours, their aim is to cause maximum civilian casualties." A new set of photos appeared on the screen each with a name displayed underneath, "all known members of the cell have disappeared and Ash Calorman, who was being followed until early this morning, has vanished as well. This is going to be a long day, people, so lets get on with it"

The group dispersed, each employee heading back to their workstation, Tony's eyes followed Michelle as she walked away from the crowd and down the corridor to tech 1. Acting on instinct he followed.

"Hey, Michelle," she turned in time to see Tony jogging towards her, "look, I'm sorry about tonight…"

"I know Tony, you don't need to apologise, that's the job, it's what we signed up for"

"That doesn't make it fair."

"No, but there will be another evening"

He smiled, "then I want to book your next free evening, whenever that is."

"Sounds like you just asked me out again," she said and felt her face grow warmer.

"Yeah, I guess I did" he said, his smile widening, Tony checked the corridor was clear before raising his hand and brushing a stay curl away from her face. Michelle smiled shyly as Tony closed the distance between them.

"How serious is the threat, Tony?"

He searched her eyes and saw the fear she was hiding, but he couldn't lie to her,

"It's bad Chelle, these people won't stop until they're satisfied"

She gave him a weak smile before looking away and saying, "I don't think I can cope with all that again Tony"

"Hey," he put his hand under her chin and raised her head so their eyes met once more, "everything will be ok; you know that right? You're going to get through this."

"But what about you? What if I lose you?" the words fell right out of her mouth as she fought against her emotions, trying, and failing, not to get hysterical.

Tony was blown away by her words and how strong her feeling must be for him already, "we're both going to be ok, I promise."

Michelle leaned into him, seeking the warm, safe feeling that only came from being in his arms.

Tony sighed and pulled her closer, "I wish I could take you away from here right now" he whispered next to her ear, Michelle could feel his lips on her skin as he spoke.

"Where would we go?"

"To the nicest restaurant I could find, where we would order the best food, and Champaign. And we would sit outside and watch the sun go down." He paused, "And I would kiss you without anyone interrupting us." They both knew he was talking about before, on the day of the bomb, and just the thought of their kiss sent warm feelings all the way down to Michelle's toes.

"We should get back to work."

Tony pulled away but kept a hand at her waist, "I'm here if you need me, remember that Michelle. Anytime."

She nodded, "thanks, Tony."

After a last lingering look at each other, the pair went their separate ways once again.

Barely ten seconds later the emergence alarm screamed through CTU for all to hear.


	4. CTU Compromised

Chapter Four – CTU Compromised

The sound of shrill sirens flooded the previously silent CTU. Tony scanned the area around him, drew out his gun and headed off at a run, back towards the others. He stopped at the door to Holding Room Two and listened, but only the ear-splitting wail of alarm after alarm reached his ears. He turned left, towards his office, and met an equally confused Jack at the end of the hall.

"What's going on?"

"Don't know. We're going to need to split up." Tony nodded. "You go up to tech. 1, do a loop and come back here, I'll go the other way and meet you in your office in five minutes." Tony nodded once more and set off.

He saw nothing unusual until, just as he was considering heading back, he heard light footsteps ahead of him, shortly followed by a door closing gently. His Marines training kicked in.

Tony raised his gun, stood to one side of the door, now on his right, inhaled deeply and kicked the door in with one blow.

"Tony!" Michelle leaned back on the wall and sighed heavily, "you scared the hell out of me!"

Tony laughed quietly in relief, "c'mon, we've got to go back and meet Jack."

"Ok, Tony. But everyone else has gone outside, they think its a bomb or something, security are checking everyone is ok in the car park."

"Why didn't you go outside with them?" Tony glanced her way in time to see her checks go red with embarrassment.

"I… well, I… wanted to find you first" she finished lamely and smiled. Tony felt his heart swell; he smiled back at this amazing woman who already seemed to care for him more than anyone else ever had.

The two agents moved silently down the corridor, covering each other from an unknown enemy. They were nearly at Tony's office when, without warning, the alarms stopped, leaving CTU eerily quiet.

"What does it mean?" Michelle asked when their eyes met moments later.

"I don't know, but hopefully Jack will…"

Jack was already there when they arrived; he let them in wordlessly and locked the door after them. Tony raised his eyebrows and silently asked the obvious question. Jack nodded and began to explain.

"We have an unknown white male in the building."

"How?"

"Gave a fake ID – everything checked out on our computer but someone downstairs wanted to be sure, so they checked with Division and the name he gave came up black on their computer, so security ordered a lockdown."

"How come our computer isn't up-to-date with Division?"

"That's just it. It is. The fake name was added here, at CTU, and then removed once the intruder was inside."

"We have a leak?"

"That's the only explanation. CTU must be compromised, so this stays between us, clear?"

They both nodded solemnly, the thought that yet another friend had turned traitor was enough to make their hearts sink.

Jack's eyes were cold and emotionless; he had seen betrayal too often to feel the way Tony and Michelle did now, he had felt that betrayal harder than either of them and had even lost his wife to it. Jack trusted few people any more, but two of those he did still trust were standing in front of him now. Still, he turned and left them without any words of comfort, what could he say? Terrible things do happen when your friends change sides, there was no denying it.

"It could be anyone, we've hired so many new people recently," Michelle stated miserably.

"Don't think like that, Michelle, there's always a tell, a mistake, we'll find them. But first, we have someone inside this building who shouldn't be."

"What do we do?"

Tony smiled, that was one of the things he admired most about her, ever-the –professional, even when she was clearly scared or upset, she still got on with her job and still did it better than most.

Nearly three quarters of an hour later, all the CTU employees were gathered in the conference room, where Tony and Jack were explaining that the alarms had been a drill, a practice evacuation. Though they didn't look convinced. Once the meeting ended and people started to leave, Tony called Michelle back,

"How'd you get on?"

"Nothing. I checked all the security footage and found no trace that there even was an intruder. This guy seems to have completely disappeared, but he defiantly hasn't left the building."

"Could the tapes have been altered?"

Michelle nodded sadly, "it could have been erased during the evacuation. I'm having security systematically search the whole building now."

"Good, thanks Michelle."

"What have you found?" She asked.

"We've found the leak."

"Who?"

"Cynthia Oaks."

"No! Your wrong, its not Cynthia, we trained together, she not the leak!"

"It all fits, Michelle, it was her computer that changed the CTU records, and she was missing briefly during the evacuation," Tony reasoned, "I'm sorry, Chelle, I really am. Jack is questioning her now."

Michelle looked away, she felt winded. It couldn't be true. Cynthia and her went way back, they'd signed up and trained together, they'd been friends over at Division. But Michelle had become a little more distant recently, since she started at CTU, since she met Tony really.

"Is that everything?" she asked without making eye contact, Tony nodded.

"You ok? Chelle?"

"I'm fine Tony," she snapped and left him alone in the conference room.

Tony's mind drifted back to that day over a year ago when Nina had been exposed. His fists clenched at the thought. He had trusted her; he had felt the way Michelle did now – confused, angry and betrayed. But he didn't have anyone to help him deal with those feelings, Michelle had him and he intended on helping her though.

He followed the way Michelle had gone and quickly found her resting against the wall her eyes filled with glittering tears,

"We were really good friend" she said simply before Tony took her in his arms and held her to him, allowing her to cry.

"Oh, hey, Michelle," he murmured quietly against her ear, her breathing was still fast and irregular. He pulled away slightly and looked at her tear stained face. Tony wiped each tear away gently with his thumbs, while mentally pleading her to look at him.

Finally, Michelle forced herself to meet his gaze, Tony flashed her a kind smile, which only made her more upset.

"I'm sorry," she gave a hollow laugh before chocking on a fresh wave of tears, "that's twice now."

"Twice what, Michelle?"

"Twice I've broken down and cried in front of you, Tony" she shook her head sadly and continued, "you must think I'm so stupid," she sniffed loudly and lowered her eyes to the floor.

Tony felt his stomach melt, he wanted to wrap her in his arms, take her home and look after her. He would have too, if CTU weren't in the middle of dealing with a serious threat. Instead he reached out gently and lifted her chin with his finger.

"I don't think our stupid, Chelle, I think you're the most intelligent and reliable worker here at CTU," he paused, "and I think you're beautiful. I hate seeing you cry, Chelle, it breaks my heart, I want to see you smile, I love your smile – I wouldn't get through each day without it."

Michelle's mouth open slightly in surprise and new tears formed in her eyes, but these were not the same sad sobs from before.

Tony took her parted lips as an invitation and quickly covered them with his own. He kissed her gently for a few moments before reaching an arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

Michelle sunk into the long-awaited kiss, her insides growing warmer by the second. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her fingers through his hair.

Difficult though it was, Tony knew they had to stop and pulled away, but he kept their bodies close. He rested his forehead against hers.

Tony traced her bottom lip with his finger and watched her eyes closely, "how are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks," she smiled shyly at him.

He rubbed his hands up and down her arms and returned her smile, "back to work?"

Michelle nodded. So the pair turned away from the calm of the corridor and headed back towards the chaos of the rest of CTU.


	5. Interrogation

Chapter Five - Interrogation

Jack crossed the floor towards Tony and Michelle, who where still reeling from the kiss they had just shared, "She's in interview room one" Jack got straight to the point, "but so far she's not telling us anything. I think, under the current circumstances, we need to force her to talk. There is still a man in this building that shouldn't be, and what he's doing we can still only guess."

Tony nodded and Michelle felt her muscles tense, she knew what Jack meant and looked down at the black suitcase he was carrying: she knew it to be one containing syringes and vials of all the worst kind of drugs.

"I want you both in there with me, to hear her explanations" Jack continued, "once we know their plans we are going to need to act fast."

Tony glanced towards Michelle, who gazed down at the lino floor in disbelief, things were already getting bad and the day had barely begun.

"What?" Jack asked staring from Tony to Michelle.

"Michelle was good friends with Cynthia," Tony explained, "she's still taking it in." Jack sighed.

"I'm OK" Michelle said firmly, "you're right Jack, we don't have time to stand and chat about it." Jack nodded and the three of them set of for interview room one, Tony and Michelle walking a stride behind Jack. Tony found her hand with his and squeezed it reassuringly, his touch gave her the strength to keep walking and keep her head high.

Cynthia watched them enter the room, her gaze flicked from Jack to Tony to Michelle and back to Jack.

Jack open the case slowly and pulled from it a vile of clear liquid and held it so that Cynthia to see, "there are two ways we can do this, Cynthia, the easy way, or," he reached into the case once more and retrieved a syringe, "the hard way."

She saw the syringe and tried helplessly to free herself from the chair. Her body physically shock with fear, her eyes, which were still frozen on Jack, reflected that same terror, "Okay!" she almost screamed, "alright, I'll tell you anything, everything, just don't - not that – please!"

"Who is he and what is he doing in CTU?"

"I wasn't told who he is," Jack took a step towards her and she cried out, "I was only told to let him in, so that he could - so he…"

"Come on, Cynthia! We don't have time!"

"He's here to take hostages, I'm supposed to take them to him and get them out of the building"

"How many hostages?"

"Two: one male one female"

"Where would they be taken?"

"I don't know. Back to The Ghosts headquarters, I guess."

"Where is their headquarters?"

"I told you I don't know where!" Cynthia shouted, still trembling.

"When is he expecting you?"

"Soon, within the next twenty minutes"

Jack and Tony exchanged looks and left the room to discuss their options, leaving Michelle alone with the now sobbing Cynthia.

"How much?" Michelle asked quietly.

"What?"

"The price you put on so many lives, the lives of your friends, how much did they offer you?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what?!" snapped Michelle.

Cynthia paused, "they've got my sisters kid, my niece, Holly." Tears streamed down her cheeks as Michelle digested this new piece of information in shock.

"You should have come to us Cynthia, we could have helped you, helped Holly."

Michelle gave her one final glace, but this time there was sympathy in her eyes, Michelle thought of her own niece, Julia, and understood why Cynthia had acted the way she had.

Tony turned as he heard the door behind him open, "You ok?"

"They abducted her niece, that was their leverage over her."

"It doesn't change anything," Jack said, "we still need to decide how to act."

Tony took over, "Michelle, we are going to let them take two hostages, and follow them using GPS trackers."

Michelle looked alarmed, "who?"

"Not sure yet," said Tony, "I'm running com from here and Jack's going to be following the hostages with a field ops team on stand by."

"Send me," Michelle said quickly.

"No way, I need you here to be second in command, and your not trained to be out in the field."

"The second hostage has to be female, and the less people who know what is really going on the better. I've been out in the field before Tony."

Jack, who had been leaning against the wall, nodded in agreement, "Michelle's right, she's an obvious choice and I'll send Nick out with her, he's just transferred from CTU New York, he's very experienced."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, "no, there has to be someone else."

"You think I'm not up to it?" Michelle challenged.

"No, but I-"

But he didn't get to finish as Michelle interrupted him, "Then its settled, I'll go and see Chloe about getting a GPS tracker put into my shoe." She turned before he had a chance to argue and strode away.

Tony turned to Jack, "You can't seriously be letting her go?" he kept his voice calm even as the panic began to flow through his body.

"Why not Tony, she's qualified, she already knows the situation and I trust her to stay in control." He paused then added, "you can't treat her any different to any other agent, Tony, just because your… close" he finished, giving Tony a looked that told him the conversation was over.

"Look after her Jack."

"You know I will."

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I'm moving the story on a bit here, what do you think?


	6. Hostages

Chapter Six – Hostages

Michelle shook hands with Nick Wells in the corridor outside Tech One. Chloe was fitting the pair of them with GPS tracking chips and telling them both, in the way only Chloe could, how risky this mission would be and how much she didn't like what they were about to do.

Nick was a similar height and build to Tony, but he was a couple of year younger. His golden brown, sun-bleached hair was longer and thicker than Tony's dark hair. His skin was darkly tanned and his eyes a deep green colour. Nick had greeted her with a smile that broke the tension and helped to ease Michelle's nerves. At least she wasn't going into this alone, Michelle thought.

Michelle glanced up at Tony's office; although the blinds were closed she could make out his silhouette pacing up and down. She sighed. Tony clearly felt how she would have done if it were him going into the field and not her. But office relationships were frowned upon for exactly this reason, and Michelle could not let Tony's feelings stop her from doing her job.

Even so, Michelle hoped she would get a chance to say goodbye to Tony before she left.

Tony wanted to kick the desk or smash his mug against the wall but neither of those things would help.

This was their only lead so they could not afford to miss the opportunity to trace the terrorists, if all went well then CTU could end all this within the hour, but still, the risk was too great. Especially when it was his Michelle who would be in danger.

The phone rang and Tony answered it instantly. It was Jack.

"Cynthia is about to hand Michelle and Nick over, I thought you might want a word with Michelle before they leave, to say good luck."

Tony hesitated, of course he wanted to see Michelle but he wanted more than to talk to her, he wanted to hold her in his arms and if that happened he might not be able to let her go.

He was starting to have doubts about this mission, he had a bad feeling in his gut, but there were not other options. "I'll be right down."

Tony made the short walk to Tech One and found Michelle with Nick and Chloe, he called her over and the two of them stepped into the empty room opposite. Neither spoke immediately.

"We're leaving in a minute" Michelle said to break the silence. Tony nodded. He paused, then held out his hand for her, she took it and their fingers linked together tightly. "I'll be OK, Tony" his face broke at her words and he pulled her into a hug, pressing his face into her neck.

"Be careful Chelle." Michelle clung to him tighter, needing him to be as close as possible. Tony backed her into the wall and pressed his body into hers, he kissed her neck over and over.

It was strange seeing this side of Tony, they had only ever kissed twice but the feelings between them were already very strong. As they pulled apart Tony's eyes fixed on her face, burning her image into his brain.

Michelle gave him one last weak smile before leaving.

Once alone Tony fell into the nearest chair and forced himself to breathe, she would come back to him, she had to come back, there were so many things he still needed to tell her.

Michelle met Jack, Nick and Cynthia a little further down the corridor. It was time to go. Jack nodded at Nick and Michelle and wished them luck before they turned and followed Cynthia towards the stairwell. None of the three spoke to each other as they walked, each lost in their own thoughts.

They went down two flights of stairs, into a part of CTU Michelle was not familiar with. Cynthia push open a door on her left and gestured for them to follow her inside. The door slammed shut behind them.

"What took you so bloody long?" Standing behind the door was a man with dark red hair. He pointed a gun at them. "Never mind, I don't have time to hear excuses. How do I get out of here?" The man hissed at Cynthia.

"Down the stairs, there's a fire escape."

"Won't that set off another alarm?"

"I've disabled it" Cynthia said quickly, Michelle was amazed at how well Cynthia was playing her part, but didn't dwell on that for long.

"What's going on?" Nick said, stepping into role. The man grinned; he pulled Michelle against him and pointed the gun at Nick's head.

"The three of us are going on a little trip, if you're quiet and do as your told I might not shot you." He turned to Cynthia, "get out of here." She left.

"Who are you?" Michelle asked.

The man paused, "To you I'm Kevin, now shut up." He gave her a hard shove towards the stairs. Nick moved forward too his eyes fixed on the gun in Kevin's hand. "Go ahead and open the fire escape, if you try to run I'll shot you." Nick did as he was told.

Once all three of them were out side a black car skidded to a halt in front of them and a second man shouted out from the driver's side.

"Get in the back! No talking!" The new man turned to Kevin and snapped, "you're late, I nearly left without you."

"I'm here now, lets just get moving."

The road was busy and the cars slow moving, which only made the two men in the front of the car more edgy. From the corner of her eye Michelle saw Jack's SUV pull out from a side road and take its place in the long stream of traffic only two cars behind theirs.

Less than twenty minutes later they turned off the main roads, followed only by Jack's car, although fortunately this went unnoticed by the others. With no traffic to stop them, they picked up speed and quickly put distance between them and CTU.

Michelle spent the journey thinking of Tony, his eyes as she had left still haunting her. She had never seen Tony lose it like that; he had needed to hold her as much as she had needed to be in his arms. Michelle felt herself fall a little more in love with him and swore to her self that if she got back to CTU in one piece she would tell Tony just how deeply she cared about him.

The car started to slow as it turned off the straight road they had been travelling on, ahead were a row of simple corrugated iron warehouses. There were lights shining from within the third warehouse and this was where the car finally stopped.

The man called Kevin roughly grabbed Michelle's shoulders and forced her out of the car, while the second man did the same to Nick, then all four of them set off.

Inside the air was stale and stank of sweat. Kevin pushed a gun into her back and steered Michelle into a large brightly lit room.

"Search them. Remove anything we can sell or they could use to escape" A voice shouted from the corner of the room, Ash Calorman got up from his chair and approached the two CTU agents. Ash looked older than he had in his picture, the pressure of the day was obviously getting to him.

The men who had driven them this far began searching her and Nick for valuables. Michelle watched anxiously as one by one her GPS chips, hidden in her phone, watch and belt, were removed and put into a black bin liner.

Ash turned away from his two hostages, a smile playing at the corners of his lips, "take their shoes too, so they can't run away. Then take them out to the van." Michelle felt her stomach drop unpleasantly; the last tracker was in her shoe, her last hope.

And worst still, from the look on Nick's face, all his trackers had been removed too.

They were on their own now.


	7. Imprisoned

Chapter Seven - Imprisoned

At CTU, Tony was back in control of himself, Michelle needed him to be at his best.

He was listening to Jack, over the radio, as he planned the raid. Tony's heart was going at twice the normal rate. After the raid Michelle would be put into a CTU car and brought back to him. It would be over.

"Tony, are we all ready at your end?"

"Yeah Jack, you're good to go."

"Ok, all teams, go go go!"

Tony listened to the raid on his head-set, his hands balled into fists.

"They're not here!" Jack shouted after a couple of minutes.

"What! They're there Jack, look again!"

"No Tony there isn't anyone here. Hang on a moment." Tony waited impatiently for Jack to speak again, "We've found a bag of Michelle's and Nick's things, including their shoes Tony, so they were here but they've been moved."

"Damn it!" Tony slammed his fists down on the table hard and clenched his teeth.

His worst nightmare was coming true.

* * *

Michelle and Nick had been force into the back of a van and driven away after being search at the warehouse, the ride was unpleasant but not long, so they couldn't have gone very far.

The doors opened and the sudden light blinded her. Arms reach in and dragged her out onto the road. They had parked in front of a rundown farmhouse, but Michelle and Nick were not lead inside. Round the side of the house a set of stone steps lead down into what was once a wine cellar but was now a prison. Michelle was pushed to the ground then tied up.

The door was bolted as the last man left, locking them in and the sunlight out.

"Nick?" Michelle said in barely more than a whisper.

"I'm here" she squinted in the darkness and saw his outline on the other side of the cellar.

"How are you tied?"

"Legs tied together with rope, both arms tied behind my back, you?"

"Same. Any chance of you getting free?"

Nick hesitated. "Not easily."

"So what do we do?"

"We wait, CTU will be looking for us, we give them an hour, and then if they don't come we find a way to free our selves."

Silence fell leaving Michelle with only her thoughts for comfort. Without the GPS chips CTU would find it hard to follow, they might not even know that she and Nick had left the warehouse.

She pushed those thoughts aside and tried to get more comfortable, her arms was being held at an awkward angle and the rope was cutting into her ankles and wrists. After several minutes of struggling, Michelle accepted that this was as good as it was going to get and gave up.

Time dripped by slowly, Michelle was just about to call out to Nick again when voices and footsteps were heard Light filled the room as the door was unlocked and opened. Two men Michelle had not seen before entered the cellar, one pulled a fold-out chair across the floor and sat directly in front of Nick while the other stood, looking down at Michelle.

The first man lent back on his chair and grinned. "So what do CTU know about us?"

Nick said nothing, and the second man gave Michelle a hard kick to the stomach, she cried out in pain, but she too said nothing. "You will tell us," the first man continued calmly, talking only to Nick this time. "I'll let you in on a secret: we don't really need both of you" The man who had kicked Michelle pulled her up from the floor by her hair and push a gun to the side of her head, "so you can either tell me, or watch my good friend here blow her brains out."

Nick's eye flicked from the first man to Michelle, "CTU know you're planning to use suicide bombers sometime today and that Ash Calorman is you leader."

The two men grinned at each other. "You know nothing!" The men laughed again. "And we were worried about the infamous CTU!"

"Enough." A third man now stood in the doorway, he glared at his companions who left immediately. The new-comer had shoulder length black hair, which was pulled into a ponytail, he took a step forward and spoke to Michelle and Nick, "CTU raided the warehouse and found nothing, you were followed that far, but I'm sure you knew that already." He paused letting the news sink in. "I have been told to tell you: do not try to escape, this building is heavily guarded and we have been ordered to shot to kill if you cause trouble." He gave them both a look of the deepest loathing, as though he would like nothing more than to kill two federal agents, and then left.

Michelle looked over at Nick.

If CTU had raided the warehouse, they had not know that she and Nick were no longer there, so they would not know where they had been moved too. Michele felt sick; the hope of being rescued had left her.

"Ok," Nick said, "if help isn't coming then we will have to get our selves out of here."

Michelle was about to say: 'how?' but a sneeze echoed through the cellar, both Nick and Michelle froze – they were not alone.

_

* * *

_

As always reviews would be much appreciated, thanks.


	8. Escape

Chapter Eight – Escape

The two CTU agents shared a quick look, and Michelle signalled for Nick to stay quiet, "Who's there?" she called out.

No answer.

"Who are you?" She asked again. Michelle focused hard on the silence, and as she listened she heard a small sniff. "My name is Michelle, what's yours?"

And finally a small voice answered back: "Holly."

* * *

In CTU there was chaos. "Jack!" Tony called out over the remote com.

"I'm here Tony."

"Are there any signs of how they escaped?"

"There are car tracks but too many of them to see which way they've taken Michelle and Nick."

Tony rubbed hard at his temples. _There must be a way to find them._

"Tony."

He looked up, "What is it Chloe?" She put a laptop down in front of Tony. "What am I looking at?" He spoke politely but inside he was screaming _I don't really have time for this Chloe!_

Chloe gave an irritated sigh, "It's a satellite thermal image." He stared blankly back at her, "Do you see that?" she asked impatiently, Tony lent in closer and looked at the red patch she was indicating, he nodded. "That's where Jack and the others are. Now look here," she pointed at another region about a mile north. Here the pattern of red was more concentrated at one point with a few red patches spread out around its edge.

"Guards." Tony muttered to himself, before looking back up at Chloe, "This is them?"

"I think so."

"What is that building?"

"A Farmhouse."

He wanted to hug her. "Good work Chloe." She scowled and picked the laptop back up. "Jack?"

"Tony."

"We have a possible new location. A farmhouse one mile north of your current position."

* * *

Holly crawled out from behind a stack of wooden crates; her eyes were red from crying. Her feet were tied at the ankle but her hands were free.

"Holly how far can you move?" Michelle asked, hardly daring to believe that not only had they found Cynthia's niece but that she might also be able to free them. Holly continued to crawl until she was within reach of Michelle. "That's brilliant Holly, do you think you would be able to untie my hands.

She nodded, "I undid mine." She said showing Michelle the raw strip of skin where the rope had cut in. "The man who brought me in here thought I was still out cold, so he didn't do the knots tight enough, I wriggled out."

"You're a clever girl," Michelle smiled encouragingly as Holly began to work the knot lose.

Finally, with her hands untied, Michelle was able to get her legs free. Then she quickly released Nick's hands and started work on Holly's legs.

Michelle couldn't help but think that someone was watching out for the three prisoners because no one came to check on them in all the time it took to get them ready to escape.

Nick crossed silently to the locked door and examined the lock. "I can get us out but I'll have to force the door open," he turned to Michelle, "They would know we had gone, that's if they don't hear the door going down."

Michelle nodded grimly. "Do it."

* * *

"What's your ETA Jack?"

"Three minutes Tony, what kind of resistance should we be expecting?"

"There are eight guards positioned around the perimeter, probably armed. They'll see you coming Jack, there's no cover."

"I've got it covered Tony."

* * *

The door fell open with a crash.

Michelle stood for a moment fearing the worse, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the doorway and one arm keeping Holly behind her. Then Nick nodded to her and the three of them made their way soundlessly up the stone steps.

Nick crouched at the top of the steps, scanning the surrounding area. He clocked four guards and a possible fifth standing some distance away on his right, the farmhouse blocked his line of sight to the left. The guards he could see were calling to each other and gesturing out at something Nick couldn't see. "There are a least four guards, probably more. They're distracted," he whispered over his shoulder to Michelle.

"Now or never then." She whispered back.

Keeping low the two CTU agents and Holly ran out from the cellar steps and down the side of the farmhouse, away from the distracted guards. At that moment the gunfire started, Nick dropped to the ground bringing the other down with him as two more guards ran past.

"Do you think its CTU?" Michelle asked hopefully.

Nick's face was still set in a grim mask of determination. "I say we wait here until we're sure."

Michelle nodded but could feel the warm relief starting to flow through her. _Don't let your guard down yet Chelle _she told herself firmly.

Nick stood up slowly, keeping his arm out to signal to Michelle and Holly to stay down. He released a breath of air and smiled down at them, "It's CTU. Come on."

They walked quickly to the edge of the farmhouse then Nick stopped dead staring at something beyond Michelle, she turned and looked too. Standing beside a black SUV was Ash Calorman. He had stopped too, watching the three of them with an unreadable face. "Tell CTU this is just the beginning," he called out to them as he stepped into the waiting car, which took off before the door was slammed shut.

They watched the car drive swiftly away until Jack's voice caught their ears, "Michelle! Nick!"

He was standing beside a large unmarked van. Nick looked across at the continuing gunfight. "We need to stay really low, you got that Holly?"

She nodded and once again the three of them ran, with Nick and Michelle sheltering Holly. As they reached the van Jack pushed them all inside and jumped in after them. "Drive!" he shouted and the vehicle started to move.

* * *

Back at CTU they were greeted by applause, it seemed that everyone now knew what had been going on, but to Michelle the only person that mattered gave her a brief nod and the smallest smile.

With the exception of Ash Calorman's last minute escape the mission had been a success. Several cell members had been taken in to custody and it seemed that once again CTU had prevented a serious threat.

Tony found, to his surprise, that their main suspects escape didn't bother him as much as it should have. Michelle was back and, under the pretence of getting her a jacket and a pair of shoes to replace the pair that had been taken, he guided her away from the others.

"Tony-" she began to say, but he pressed his fingers to her lips and whispered in her ear,

"No words, I just need to hold you."

She smiled as he pulled her into his arms. She settled her head in the crook of his neck and sighed.

Mumbling a quiet "sorry" Tony pulled away.

"Why are you sorry, Tony?"

"I should be being strong for you."

Michelle smiled and rested her palm against his cheek, her thumb gently brushing the corner of his mouth. "You shouldn't be sorry Tony, you _were_ strong for me when I needed you most. You found out where we were being held and you made sure we were rescued. And as for now," she shrugged and stepped closer, "I think we all need someone to lean on from time to time, don't you?"

Tony slipped his arms around her waist, "Can I be your someone?"

Michelle smile, "Only if I can be yours."

"Deal." Tony whispered as their lips met for a lingering kiss.

* * *

END


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